Daylight in Turkey?
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party lost significant ground in Sunday's Turkish elections. That doesn’t mean the slide toward fascism is over — but there’s a bigger opening for democratic and socialist forces than there’s been in years.
A woman casts her vote in local municipal elections at a school on March 31, 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey.Chris McGrath / Getty
On Sunday, Turkish citizens went to the polls for the seventh time in five years. While only municipal offices were at stake, the country’s slide toward fascism under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has turned every election, no matter what level, into a pivotal contest.
The election results — though still not official, and contested in many places, including Istanbul — point to an important swing in the mood of the Turkish electorate and the balance of power in Turkish society. Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the mayoralty in both Ankara and Istanbul. And while the main opposition parties are committed at best to modifying the current system rather than delivering fundamental change, the opening for popular movements appears to be wider than it’s been in years.
1. The elections were not democratic . . .
As usual, mainstream media and politicians in Turkey are pretending that the elections were “a triumph of democracy.”
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